American snowboarder Jayson Hale suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament and bone bruising around the during Olympic training Tuesday and will likely be replaced by Graham Watanabe in the snowboard cross race later in the week. The U.S. Olympic Committee is waiting for confirmation that Watanabe has been accepted.
Watanabe didn’t qualify for World Cup events until winning the U.S. Snowboard cross Championships in December. In three races since then, his best finish is 11th. As an alternate, he still wanted to make the trip to Italy, however, to be with his friends and help them set up their boards for the racing Thursday. In a nice turn of events (for him— not for Jayson Hale), Graham will now have to set up his own.
Austria also lost a snowboarder when women’s SBX medal contender Manuela Riegler fractured her ankle.
